Why do the Chinese have such long showers
bodawei
March 15, 2010, 01:32 PM posted in General DiscussionMy province is in the grip of drought and agricultural production is beginning to be seriously affected. The uni administration has asked students to contribute ideas on how to conserve water and some students in turn asked my wife for advice. 'Why don't you institute a rule of three minute showers' she offers. 'Oh no, we couldn't do that' was the reply. 'No-one would like that'. On further questioning the students estimate the average shower to be about half an hour, with some students staying under for about an hour. Needless to say, the students do not pay directly for water. (My suggestion was 'make them pay directly for water'.) What do poddies think?
matthiask
March 14, 2010, 06:59 PMyou could ask to become vegetarian:
http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home
bodawei
March 14, 2010, 06:14 AMOkay here are four possibilities:
1. (the obvious one) they are not paying directly for the water
2. they shower maybe one or two times a week so need to do a thorough job
3. they do not get much privacy in their lives (lots of people, crowded conditions) so the shower is one place that they can enjoy privacy, make the best of it
4. they (for some cultural reasons possibly related to being mainly an agricultural society) have a need to scrub themselves very thoroughly - this takes time
bababardwan
I like reason number 3 best mate.Obviously there's a lot in reason 1 as well.I'm not too convinced by 2 or 4 though....doesn't matter how dirty you are,you're not going to need an hour to get clean.
bodawei
That's why I said 'cultural' reasons.. it is hard to understand. I went to the public bathhouse once and watched discretely (lucky I didn't get arrested?).. my showering companions seemed to rub off at least two or three layers of skin. They liked an abrasive kind of wash cloth as well. I'm wondering if it is related to a traditional Chinese medicine view of the world, because they also like a good abrasion in a massage. (I have been left literally bleeding.)
bababardwan
hehe,reminds me of "out damn'd spot" from Macbeth.
oh right....you may be right then,but is this everyday ritual ,or is that more of a luxury/pampering session [or in the bleeding case perhaps not so luxurious...but related to important health beliefs as I think you rightly suggest].
bodawei
The bath house behaviour I refer to are 'economic' bath houses, patronised mainly by people who cannot afford a hot water system inside their own 厕所. That and curious foreigners? And students (who are only temporarily poor)? I am not talking about the spas. So it is metaphorically a daily ritual, but these people may only have a couple of showers a week because of the cost.
sydcarten
March 14, 2010, 06:47 AMI'd rather live with ppl who shower too much rather than too little.
Here in Australia once a day is pretty normal and we don't understand how the POMs (English) can get away with showering as infrequently as they do.
xiao_liang
How often are we supposed to shower? I shower every day, and so does everyone I know. Is that too infrequently?
Yours, a Pom.
bababardwan
March 14, 2010, 08:03 AMI like reason number 3 best mate.Obviously there's a lot in reason 1 as well.I'm not too convinced by 2 or 4 though....doesn't matter how dirty you are,you're not going to need an hour to get clean.
bababardwan
March 14, 2010, 08:11 AM"What can you do in a shower for half an hour?"
..nothing,absolutely nothin' mate [meditate,become one with the shower,veg out,whatever]...what luxury.This reminds me of the Bisy Backson character from the Tao of Pooh.We all get so busy that we don't stop and relax sometimes.I love a long shower but we recently had a drought here for a few years and were all trained to have very short ones.Those hot spring baths in places like Taiwan and Japan are so appealing.I suppose they have them in mainland China too do they?...what's the scene there?
xiao_liang
March 14, 2010, 08:12 AMI've never noticed chinese people showering any longer than anyone else?! Option 5: It's an over-estimation of how long they spend in the shower.
bababardwan
I suppose bodawei,you clarified that that was actually time with the water running and wasn't including time in the shower room pre and post shower grooming,getting dressed,makeup etc?
It does seem likely though that as you were talking about the drought and cutting back on water usage that they were talking about time under the shower head.
bodawei
In the story above it is presumably time under the shower (but I haven't actually showered with those students.) :-)
Where I lived previously they pay for water by the minute; in this situation I believe the time under the shower head would be shorter, but it is still a very long time. Where they pay by the minute you buy a little stored value card and swipe the shower; it goes in about three minute blocks of time. You keep swiping if you want a longer shower. The guys would be there soaping up or washing their hair in the gaps when the water ran out; all up they would be there for about half an hour.
xiao_liang
Every week for the last three or so years, bodawei. I also lived on and off in my girlfriend's dorms for a year, which was populated entire by chinese people born and bred on the mainland.
go_manly
March 14, 2010, 04:16 AMWhat can you do in a shower for half an hour? And some stay in an hour? What a waste of precious time.
bababardwan
"What can you do in a shower for half an hour?"
..nothing,absolutely nothin' mate [meditate,become one with the shower,veg out,whatever]...what luxury.This reminds me of the Bisy Backson character from the Tao of Pooh.We all get so busy that we don't stop and relax sometimes.I love a long shower but we recently had a drought here for a few years and were all trained to have very short ones.Those hot spring baths in places like Taiwan and Japan are so appealing.I suppose they have them in mainland China too do they?...what's the scene there?
bodawei
We have a couple of spa towns within an hours drive of our city. Typically a Chinese family make it an outing two or three times a year, but obviously it would depend on disposable income. I went to one where it cost 100 RMB each person (that was a discount on list price) for a choice of 20 or 30 different pools, an endless supply of water to drink, and a short massage. A huge choice of shampoos, conditioners, and skin lotions. But no food - that is extra. You can spend all day there if you like.
It is amusing that you are not allowed to wear your own clothes in the relax area (where you can get a massage) - they give you a pair of jarmies and a pair of paper underpants. (Not much more modest than a hospital gown.)
Some of the hotels in town pipe the natural hot spring water right into your room.
changye
March 14, 2010, 09:38 AMI always hate to see a lot of running showers with no one under them at a public bath here in China.
bodawei
March 14, 2010, 01:08 PM@xiao_liang
How often have you showered with Chinese people born and bred on the mainland?
bodawei
March 14, 2010, 01:23 PMIt is not only showers - many Chinese people I have observed are (from the perspective of a person from a very dry country) wasteful when it comes to water.
Examples:
Doing the washing up with the water running the entire time
Washing rice you are about to cook - it is sluiced three or four times with the water running
Allowing the tap outside toilets where you wash your hands run, ditto taps inside public toilets
There are also signs everywhere urging people to conserve water, but it is only slowly sinking in.
I think that these latter examples are not driven entirely by the same factors as the long showers (perhaps only that people are often not paying directly for water.)
xiao_liang
I think these are habits quite common across the developed world. Water conservation is a hard lesson to learn in countries with plentiful water.
xiao_liang
March 14, 2010, 01:37 PMHow often are we supposed to shower? I shower every day, and so does everyone I know. Is that too infrequently?
Yours, a Pom.
xiao_liang
March 14, 2010, 01:38 PMI think these are habits quite common across the developed world. Water conservation is a hard lesson to learn in countries with plentiful water.
bababardwan
March 14, 2010, 08:15 AMI suppose bodawei,you clarified that that was actually time with the water running and wasn't including time in the shower room pre and post shower grooming,getting dressed,makeup etc?
It does seem likely though that as you were talking about the drought and cutting back on water usage that they were talking about time under the shower head.
Tal
March 14, 2010, 03:57 AMHalf an hour in the shower! I am astonished.
Come to think of it though, I've never really wondered before about how long (Chinese) people spend in the shower.
When I first came to China I did miss having a bathtub and the luxury of a half-hour soak, (as often as not with a book to keep me company, I used to get some great reading done that way,) but gradually I forgot about it and these days I'm sure I use a lot less water than I ever have in my adult life before. I'd say 10 minutes is my maximum.